The Good Friday derby between St Helens and Wigan Warriors delivered drama, heart, and a finish that will be talked about for years to come. Under the floodlights of a packed BrewDog Stadium on April 3, 2026, St Helens staged a miraculous late comeback to stun Super League leaders Wigan Warriors 34-24, turning a 14-point deficit into a 10-point triumph in the final minutes. The match, billed as the biggest derby in rugby league, lived up to every bit of its hype, with a sold-out crowd roaring as events unfolded in a whirlwind of tries, controversy, and raw emotion.
Wigan Warriors, bolstered by the return of Jai Field from appendicitis surgery, looked set to break their Good Friday drought on Saints’ turf. The visitors led 12-10 at halftime, thanks to early tries from Harry Smith and Jack Farrimond, both converted by Adam Keighran. St Helens kept pace, with Matt Whitley and Daryl Clark crossing the line, Tristan Sailor adding one conversion to keep the hosts within touching distance at the break.
The second half saw Wigan flex their muscles. Field marked his return in style, diving onto a clever Harry Smith grubber to extend the lead. Moments later, Oliver Partington’s break set up Zach Eckersley for another try, Keighran’s boot making it 24-10 with just over 12 minutes remaining. At that point, it seemed as if Wigan had finally cracked the code for derby day glory in St Helens, threatening to secure their first Good Friday win at the BrewDog Stadium in a decade.
But as any rugby league fan knows, form often goes out the window in a derby. The Saints, missing over ten first-team regulars due to injury and suspension, had been forced to draft in Hull KR loanees Bill Leyland and Jordan Dezaria just days before kickoff. Head coach Paul Rowley’s squad was stretched thin, with notable absentees including Mark Percival, Matty Lees, Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax, Jacob Host, Nene Macdonald, Jake Burns, and Alex Walmsley. Early in the contest, Agnatius Paasi limped off with a hamstring injury, while Shane Wright was later forced off after a head clash with Kaide Ellis. Yet adversity only seemed to galvanize the Red V.
What followed was nothing short of sensational. In the 72nd minute, Saints skipper Jackson Hastings pounced on a loose ball to score, Sailor converting to cut the deficit to 24-16. Just minutes later, Sailor himself darted over and added the extras, and suddenly Wigan’s lead was down to two. The home crowd could sense something special brewing.
Enter Bill Leyland. The 23-year-old, on a one-week loan from Hull KR and making his Super League debut, had only joined the squad that week. With just three minutes left, Leyland scooped the ball over the line from close range to put Saints ahead for the first time since the opening half. Sailor’s conversion made it 28-24. But Leyland wasn’t done. As Wigan scrambled for a short kick-off, the ball bounced kindly, and Leyland seized the moment, sprinting in from halfway to send the home fans into a frenzy. Another conversion from Sailor sealed the 34-24 victory.
After the match, Leyland was still processing his surreal debut. Speaking to Sky Sports, the player of the match said, "It's surreal. Playing such a big derby. My team [Hull KR] won in the game before, so it's a double win for me. I'm glad to bring it home for all of these fans, it's pretty surreal. I was told to be ready. I don't even think I deserve this [award]. Klemmer played the full 80 and killed it. All I wanted was the game time, wherever that is. The boys have welcomed me here, I've only had one training session. To share this experience with them is special."
St Helens head coach Paul Rowley, reflecting on the adversity his squad had overcome, told Sky Sports, "That was very special. The adversity we were under - before and during the game. The belief and character of the group has never been questioned, we wanted to bounce back from a tough week last week, and we did that in the best way possible. Bill Leyland is a good runner of the ball, he's elusive. We thought he could be just the tonic for us to open up the game. He's an admiral young man, massive credit to him." Rowley also remarked to BBC Radio 5 Live, "Before the game, all season has been a story of adversity really. We've got 12 players missing that would normally be in our 17. The story for us has been how valiant and exceptional our younger players have been and how unbelievably strong in character our senior players have been, none more so than Jackson Hastings and David Klemmer. You go to a cinema and all the best films have adversity and an off-the-ropes type of story. Bill [Leyland] and Jordan [Dezaria] coming in, you just knew there'd be a headline somewhere. I guess we as a group and a team needed to decide whether that would be a good or bad one and it's turned out to be a good one. I'm really pleased for the two players to experience what they've just done and Bill in particular getting 25 minutes of brilliance to get us the win."
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet was left ruing his side’s inability to close out the game. "I’m very disappointed to lose the game, particularly in the manner we did having gotten ourselves into a position to win it without ever really being at our best for a long period," Peet said. "We got ourselves in that position and then we weren’t good enough to see it out. We weren’t clinical enough, and we didn’t put our game together for long enough and in the end we got what we deserved. At half-time, we thought we were in a decent spot and probably were on the right side of the energy battle - but knew we had to play better to get it won. Penalties aside, I thought we put ourselves into a good position. But then we clocked off and didn't see the game out. You’ve got to credit St Helens. They kept moving the ball and kept asking questions of us. Too many times we were a bit erratic in our defence and that led to more penalties and quick ruck. You’ve got to credit them, but we need to be better."
The match wasn’t without its controversies. Early on, St Helens’ Jake Wingfield accused Wigan’s Brad O’Neill of spitting, with referee Jack Smith putting the incident on report. Both sides saw tries disallowed after video referee intervention, and the physicality was relentless from start to finish.
For Wigan, the defeat stings all the more after leading by 14 points with less than a quarter of an hour to go. Junior Nsemba’s late ankle injury added to their woes, with head coach Peet admitting post-match, "There's nothing yet. We think it was his ankle, but not sure to what degree." The loss also sees Wigan relinquish top spot in the Super League, with St Helens now level on points and Leeds overtaking both after their derby win over Bradford later in the day.
As the dust settles on another epic Good Friday showdown, fans on both sides will remember this clash for its breathtaking swings, the emergence of a new hero in Bill Leyland, and the never-say-die spirit that defines rugby league’s greatest rivalry. With the Super League season heating up and more twists surely to come, this derby has set the bar sky-high for drama and excitement in 2026.